My S&S newbie qs!HELP!

HGLTsuperstar

Now although I have been into Cash ISAs from the start, I am only now in the position to take the first tentative steps into the world of the Stocks & Shares ISA, so have a few questions first. As I have learnt so much from this forum, and am very grateful to all, I hope you won’t mind me being a “blonde”, even though I’m usually a redhead!, and asking the “silly questions” (which of course don’t ever exist on MSE!) I am focusing on long term growth and, being in my 20’s, have a high risk tolerance and am only contributing what I consider I have never had, i.e. if I lose it my sky won’t fall in!

1. The 4K mini limit. So say I open an ISA with HL and put in 1K initially. Most individual funds state a minimum investment of 1K, so does that mean I can only go for one fund for now, or do such limits only apply if you go directly through the fund. And what about topping up to the 4K limit, say I add £200 every now and then, do I have to wait until that builds up to 1K before using it towards another fund, in which case I suppose its best to store it elsewhere to gain interest in the meantime.
2. Can you easily transfer funds within the HL ISA wrapper, if I’m not happy with how one fund is doing can I move to another without further charge/
3. I am not looking for income. How can I specify that I want my dividends reinvested, and will this contribute to my yearly allowance, or is it like interest gained on a cash ISA, i.e. additional to the yearly limit.
4. When looking at a fund’s performance, i.e. the two I am debating between, (naming no names as don’t want the mods chasing me!) what importance should I put on the yield, and the mid/NAV? As I am not looking for income, is it better to have a low yield, as this fund will be focusing on growth? i.e. Fund 1 yield (net)=0% , Fund 2 yield(net) =0% . When looking at mid/NAV, is a negative figure good as this would suggest the stock is trading cheap? i.e. same funds as above, Fund 1 mid/NAV= 223.8 +/- = +1.10, Fund 2 mid/NAV = 198.9 +/- =+1.00
5. If I have a mini S&S ISA this year but, perhaps next year can see me investing more than 4K, can I transfer my existing pot into a Maxi ISA and compound it with future contributions? Similarly can I transfer my cash ISA, which has not been touched this year, to a family member’s ISA, and then be free to open a MAXI this year?

Thanks for reading the long ramblings, I’m sure your replies will generate more questions so thanks in advance for those!

HGLTsuperstar

OK, I know there's a lot there, but perhaps you could split your responses between you...please?

cheerfulcat

Hi, HGLTs,

HGLTsuperstar wrote:

I am focusing on long term growth and, being in my 20’s, have a high risk tolerance and am only contributing what I consider I have never had, i.e. if I lose it my sky won’t fall in!

1. The 4K mini limit. So say I open an ISA with HL and put in 1K initially. Most individual funds state a minimum investment of 1K, so does that mean I can only go for one fund for now, or do such limits only apply if you go directly through the fund. And what about topping up to the 4K limit, say I add £200 every now and then, do I have to wait until that builds up to 1K before using it towards another fund, in which case I suppose its best to store it elsewhere to gain interest in the meantime.

AFAIK £1k is the limit for single transactions; you can set up regular investments with Squaregain and HL ( so probably other brokers too ) but not irregular small sums AFAIK.

2. Can you easily transfer funds within the HL ISA wrapper, if I’m not happy with how one fund is doing can I move to another without further charge/

Depends on your provider. It's very easy with a stock broker or discount broker/IFA. There may be an intial charge involved with the new fund.

3. I am not looking for income. How can I specify that I want my dividends reinvested, and will this contribute to my yearly allowance, or is it like interest gained on a cash ISA, i.e. additional to the yearly limit.

Again, it depends on your broker. With some you can have divis invested automatically, others require you to do it manually ( not that difficult and preferable in a way because you can control the price at which you buy ). Income is in addition to your yearly allowance.

4. Sorry, I don't do funds

5. If I have a mini S&S ISA this year but, perhaps next year can see me investing more than 4K, can I transfer my existing pot into a Maxi ISA and compound it with future contributions?

Once again, depends on your provider. Some allow you to consolidate minis and maxis into one big ISA, others keep them separate.

Similarly can I transfer my cash ISA, which has not been touched this year, to a family member’s ISA, and then be free to open a MAXI this year?

Not quite sure what you're trying to do here; you can give a family member £3k to put into an ISA of their own and hope that they give it back to you but the ISA allowance isn't transferable as such.

HTH a bit

Cheerfulcat

marrioa

If you apply for a fund through HL, there is a space on the application form that asks if you want your dividends reinvested. Some, maybe all, funds are classed as ACC or INC. If you state you want the former, dividends will be reinvested.